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Table 1 Positive and negative health impacts of globalization: some examples ([8, 9].

From: Is globalization healthy: a statistical indicator analysis of the impacts of globalization on health

Positive health impacts

Negative health impacts

-Diffusion of knowledge and technologies, improving health services;

-Spread of infectious diseases due to increased movement of goods and people;

-Diffusion of knowledge and technologies, improving food and water availability (e.g. irrigation technology);

-Spread of unhealthy lifestyles due to, for example, cultural globalization, global trade and marketing;

-Improvements in health care or sanitation due to economic development;

-Brain drain in the health sector;

-Global governance efforts, such as WHO's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) and WHO's Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network;

-Health risks due to global environmental change;

-Increased access to affordable food supplies due to free trade.

-Decreased government spending on public services due to, for example, Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs);

 

-Inequitable access to food supplies due to asymmetries in the global market.